[SaaS Club] Early sales struggles to PMF

Hey Reader

I hope you're doing well.

Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club:

🎧 Podcast

This is the last episode I'll be publishing in 2023. We'll resume the normal schedule on Jan 4th 2024. I wish you a very happy holiday season!

M3ter: From Early Sales Struggles to Finding Product Market Fit

In 2020, John was working at Amazon Web Services when he and his co-founder Griffin realized many software companies struggled to implement effective usage-based pricing.

Having dealt with these challenges in their previous startup, which was acquired by Amazon, they decided to start a new company aimed at helping subscription businesses seamlessly adopt usage-based pricing.

As second-time founders, John and Griffin quickly encountered familiar roadblocks trying to drive early sales. Despite their experience and a well-thought-out product, their initial attempts at connecting with potential customers fell flat.

As their cold outreach efforts continued to stall, the founders felt increasing pressure to sign those critical first customers to validate their product offering.

And to add to their struggles, they initially made the mistake of going too broad with the types of customers they sold to. This inevitably spread them too thin, making it difficult to focus on the right features and craft a clear message.

Just when things started to feel hopeless, they got a lucky break, an investor made an introduction to a significant first buyer. Landing this major customer finally gave John and Griffin the desperately needed sales momentum.

Today, m3ter generates multiple seven figures in annual revenue and has raised over $30 million in funding.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How the founders overcame early traction struggles and unsuccessful outreach efforts to sign their initial pivotal customers.

• What the founders wish they'd done differently and a crucial GTM mistake they made that all founders should avoid.

• How a lucky early introduction led to their first enterprise deal, providing the validation that finally sparked business momentum.

• Why the founders believe usage-based pricing is the future for SaaS companies, and how adopting it can help grow revenue.

• How the founders used content marketing as a primary growth driver and leveraged experts to establish brand trust and inbound leads.

• How John, as a technical founder, sometimes struggles to zoom out from the details and what he does to focus on the right priorities.

I hope you enjoy it!

Listen to the full podcast episode

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📗 Book of the Week

This week's book recommendations is:

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

🌐 Around the Web

YouTube Channel

Here's a link to the full video episode.

😍 Let's Get Social

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Have a great week!

- Omer

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P.S. whenever you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. SaaS Club Plus: We're re-launching a brand new paid community for SaaS founders with an exciting new offering. Join the waitlist!

2. SaaS Club Launch: This 3-month coaching program that gives you the tools, knowledge, and support to fast track your journey to $10K+ MRR.

3. SaaS Club Clarity:  Book a 1-hour consulting session with Omer to get unstuck and gain clarity about your SaaS business.